Posts tagged: Humanity

Stuck moment:Oh no, oh no, oh no. I can’t believe my sister thought it was okay to repeat that joke I made about my brother and his fiancée before they started dating. Right in front of her! WHY? We just sat down to eat. How am I supposed to look her in the eye now?

Embarrassment sucks. It really, really does. Everything about it: the blushing, the flushing, the dumb realization that there’s no way to play it cool. It seems like everyone’s staring at you, judging you, and the moment will be burned into their memories forever.

But it’s probably not as bad as you think.

Getting embarrassed is normal human stuff. It happens because we’re self-conscious. We have an idea of how to look good or do things right, and we feel like we’ve fallen short, by way of some mishap or misfortune that catches us off guard.

One of the best things about living life with a generous spirit is how easy it is. And how cost-effective — it’s really just the price of a kind intention. For instance…

Someone enters the living room where you’re sitting on the couch engrossed in conversation or “Game of Thrones.” Your instinct is to scoot over so the new person can sit and join in. That’s an act of generosity — making room for other people.

It’s a way of responding to our fellow human beings that says: I accept you, you can trust me, let’s get along. And, well, things only get better from there.

At the core of generous gestures — inviting an opinion, sharing an insight, forgiving a mistake — is a decidedly uncompetitive attitude. This is where it can get a little tricky, because we’re competitive by nature.